November 12th

Enlarge Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
(Editorial) November 12, 2007 - 1:43pm

The good thing that may be said about the Annapolis meeting is that the expectations are gloomily but realistically low. There are not many illusions left in the Middle East, and little is expected from yet another U.S.-brokered summit between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Perhaps what is wrong is not just the plot of this over-familiar drama, but the personnel. Maybe it is the three-way relationship between Americans, Israelis and Palestinians, who all know each very well by now; that is the problem.

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Remembering Yitzhak Rabin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Opinion) November 12, 2007 - 1:42pm

The inner price Israel pays for its continuing occupation of the West Bank “YOU were the pillar of fire before the camp and now we are left only as the camp, alone and in the dark”. So said his weeping grand-daughter, eulogising Yitzhak Rabin after he was shot in the back by a Jewish religious zealot 12 years ago. The murder of a strong and popular prime minister appeared briefly to unite the Jewish state. But the Israel of that time was in fact a camp divided. This year's anniversary has brought grim new evidence of how bitter the divisions have grown.

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Abbas Urges Support Of Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - November 12, 2007 - 1:39pm

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, on Sunday seized on a demonstration marking the third anniversary of Yassir Arafat’s death to urge support for the latest round of Middle East peace talks and turn up the heat on Hamas, his Islamist rivals.

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Mideast: All Not Quite Aboard For Annapolis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Peter Hirschberg - November 12, 2007 - 1:37pm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has again paid a visit to the Middle East, held meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, spoken about the seriousness of the two sides in their efforts to revive the peace process, but has again left the region without issuing invitations to a planned U.S.-led peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland.

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Israel, U.s. Jews Intensify
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - November 12, 2007 - 1:36pm

A renewed push from Jewish organizations for tougher sanctions against Iran is facing tough obstacles in Washington and capitals throughout the world. American Jewish groups are aggressively attempting to rally support for isolating Iran until it ends its suspected nuclear weapons program. They are lobbying Congress, reaching out to friendly nations overseas and seeking allies in the United States.

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A Glimpse At A Life In Line
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune
by Robert Cotton Fite - (Opinion) November 12, 2007 - 1:35pm

Waiting in line at a West Bank border checkpoint, intimidated by the prisonlike atmosphere and frustrated by the Israeli soldier denying me passage back into Israel, I got my first real taste of what it's like most days for thousands of Palestinians. There I was, having just enjoyed visits to several Palestinian towns, looking very much the harmless, middle-class American tourist, with what I was sure were the right stamps in my passport, being told I could not re-enter Israel nor continue my trip to Nazareth.

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The Spy Who Wants Israel To Talk
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - November 12, 2007 - 1:34pm

Efraim Halevy, the former head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, titled his memoirs "Man in the Shadows." But now that he's out in the sunlight, the 72-year-old retired spy chief has some surprisingly contrarian things to say about Iran and Syria. The gist of his message is that rather than constantly ratcheting up the rhetoric of confrontation, the United States and Israel should be looking for ways to establish a creative dialogue with these adversaries.

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Gaza’s Isolation Takes Toll On Students And Prices
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - November 12, 2007 - 1:31pm

Miriam Ashour will turn 18 in November and speaks English with only the slightest of accents. She has a scholarship to study for a college degree in business administration at Columbia College, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, in Columbia, S.C. But she will miss at least the first semester. She is among some 670 Gazans enrolled in schools abroad who have been denied permission to leave the territory.

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U.s. And Israel Play Down Hopes For Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Erlanger - November 12, 2007 - 1:30pm

The American-sponsored Middle East peace conference expected by the end of the month looks to be thin on content, mostly serving as a stage to begin formal negotiations on a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli and American officials have been so busy dampening expectations that they are not even calling the event a conference anymore, instead referring to it merely as a “meeting.”

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November 11th

The New York Times reports on how the continuing blockade of Gaza is preventing students from reaching their schools outside the territory (2.) A Chicago Tribune opinion by Episcopal priest and clinical psychologist Robert Fite recounts experiences the challenges of getting through Israeli checkpoints in the occupied West Bank (4.) An Economist (UK) editorial concludes the the very democratic nature of Israel is at stake if inner tensions over withdrawing from the occupied Palestinian territories are not resolved (8.) BitterLemons (Israel/Palestine) features an interview with Gaza Community Mental Health Project's Eyad Sarraj on the options facing Palestinians today (10.) A Haaretz (Israel) opinion by Gideon Levy urges the Israeli government to break out of the mentality of negotiating an end to the occupation as a result of violence (12.)

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